Know what you want so you can ask for it.

You may be surprised by what happens next.

Hello my lovelies!

It’s been a while since I last wrote a post that contained my thoughts about any and all things related to what I consider to be a Post Post Modern way of being.

This is simply due to the fact that I haven’t had many thoughts to express.

My days find me in a peaceful state of neutrality, existing in this world as an observer of it rather than a reactor to it. I’ve spent so much of my life researching and rabbit-hole diving, then in my head analyzing information and worldly issues as fodder for my song-writing, and as a way to find a clear path forward through this strange and beautiful land. Happily this path has now led me to an open meadow where I leisurely graze, languidly play, and simply exist as a willing creative participant in this crazy game called Life.

My existence is inside a liminal space where it’s quiet. And I really like it this way.

Today, however, I am throwing this pebble of a post into the still pond with the intention that it ripples outward isometrically, rhizomatically. I am moved to share what I hope offers nutritive value for those who most need it.

This morning as I write this, a witness to the rising sun and breakfasting birds, I am feeling soft and humbled, reflective and thoughtful. I am the same woman I was when I awoke yesterday, in all ways but one. And it’s this one change that I feel moved to write to you about.

Being a lifelong solitude, my happy place is being alone inside my home, my studio, and creative spaces. It’s not a lie to say that a week can go by without much human interaction and it wouldn’t bother me one bit. I wouldn’t notice that I was missing from the world nor that the world was possibly missing me. It’s hard to say whether this proclivity is because it’s just my nature or if I’ve crafted my isolation as a coping mechanism for being a woman who undervalues her worth. Am I playing small to avoid rejection? Or do I genuinely prefer spending my time in my own company?

I reckon it’s a bit of a chicken and an egg thing.

Yesterday, I was a guest on a podcast that was more than just a conversation.

It was a mirror held up for me to look into. And what I saw reflected back has changed me. I can feel the deepening within as I digest the experience, and the expansion of my well-known borders into new territory. Into connection.

It’s so very real. And I know this because it’s enlivening. I am not the same.

Those of you who have watched episodes of my Post Post Podcast have most likely heard me say how much Substack has challenged me to evolve past my habitual way of being, to step out of my hermitage and to share who I am and what I make. In doing so, I’ve learned that there is a receptive audience at the other end of the post button, and an encouraging, loving support system here beyond what I ever imagined. I have been rewarded for my willingness to change. For my bravery.

And for that I will be forever grateful.

Social media platforms, as benign as they are in appearance, have done immeasurable damage to brains, to hearts, to relationships, to society. Or perhaps it’s more accurate to say that, like everything external, they have functioned as a mirror for us all, and what we are now seeing reflected back at us is how damaged our brains, hearts, relationships, and society always were. We are living in a chaos born of the shadowy wounds we’ve attempted to escape from, consciously or not, through numbing, denying, ignoring the chaotic internal states we contain.

But that’s just one side of story.

Social media has also provided bridges that serve to connect those of us willing to do our part to clean up our little area of the world, to unite those of us brave enough to look in the mirror and see parts of ourselves we no longer want to deny. There is no changing something you aren’t aware of. Awareness is everything.

There is a very real network of humans who are not trapped inside parasitic programming and the Post Modernist spell that urge us to deny that truth is a thing, and to believe that there is no ideal of health, or integrity, or consciousness to strive for. It would have us believe that nothing is inherently meaningful, so why even bother looking within where our agency lies dormant and waiting…

…it’s all false anyway.

Well, I’m here to say that I think that’s total bullshit. And here’s why:

My own experience shows me otherwise.

If we don’t spend time away from sensory fixations on the external to roam around our inner realm with the investigative and explorative curiosity of a dreamer who asks “What do I want? What do I need?” we are never able to ask for it. We are not setting ourselves up to receive that which we require to sustain, to fulfill, to elevate, to grow.

Many months ago, Megan

IPR with Mack Morris

posted a simple request for someone to check up on her. She was going through some difficult things that I won’t go into more detail about here. Please do check out her stack and her work to better understand the context.

She asked. And I responded. I sent her a message asking how she was.

It was easy to do. Such a simple act. Or so I thought.

For her, it was everything. My letting her know I was here by simply reaching out through the channel of Substack was a lifeline for her in ways I couldn’t possibly understand the value of until yesterday when we spoke for an hour on her Intuitive Public TV podcast.

She was able to tell me in her voice and with her words how much that made a difference for her. All this time, I had no idea that it had. I was blown away.

My eyes are still watery from the magic of our momentous time together. I am moved to tears upon realizing how easy it can be to help another human simply by being kind. It’s really not hard- it is our default setting, after all. When we get enough sleep, when we forgive our past and ourselves, when we nourish our bodies and minds, when we take on the personal responsibility to optimize our state of BEING in the world, we very naturally operate in service of others without even having to try.

This is the Post Post Modern way.

Please enjoy our conversation, and I welcome you to share your thoughts in the comments. No- I’m asking you to share them with me. Now that I’m no longer a monk-ess, I love the interactions with you beautiful people. And that’s the truth.

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Thank you so much for showing up here and reading my post.

I appreciate each and every one of you. ❤️

be great,

love Jacqueline

xo